NEW 442 AREA CODE PICKING UP STEAM

Phone companies increasingly assigning such numbers, leading to confused customers

It’s time for people in North County to practice saying “four-four-two,” because the region will soon be flooded with phone numbers beginning with that area code.

People assigned North County’s new area code in recent months have been getting puzzled looks when they give out a phone number beginning with 442. But officials say the new code is here to stay, and that the confusion is what will eventually fade away.

Phone companies have recently begun assigning more customers numbers in the new code, forcing some of those customers to spend a few minutes convincing people that they actually live in North County.

Some customers also said they’ve had technical difficulties as phone companies work out kinks in North County’s transition to having two area codes, a process that began more than three years ago.

The largest customer assigned the new code has been 11-story Palomar Medical Center, which opened last August in western Escondido.

Hospital spokesman Leonel Sanchez said last week that all 5,000 phone numbers assigned to the hospital begin with 442, forcing people to dial the unfamiliar code when trying to call patients, doctors and other staff members.

Part of the confusion results from 442 being assigned as an overlay area code for 760, instead of the more common practice of splitting an area code geographically and assigning separate codes to separate areas.

When state officials realized four years ago that they would soon run out of available phone numbers within the 760 area code, they proposed allowing desert communities near Palm Springs to keep 760 and forcing North County to switch to 442.

But a public backlash in North County prompted state officials to shift gears. They decided to allow the geographic area covered by 760 to remain whole, and they made 442 an overlay code covering the same area.

So the area covered by 760 now also includes a slowly and steadily increasing number of customers with 442 phone numbers.

Because of the change, all phone customers within 760 were forced in October 2009 to begin dialing the 760 area code for local calls.

The North American Numbering Plan Administration, which gives phone companies blocks of numbers to assign, was slow to begin doling out numbers with 442 codes, senior director John Manning said last week.

However, the administration began giving phone companies more blocks of 442 numbers last summer as the amount of available numbers in 760 dwindled, Manning said.

Sixteen blocks of 10,000 numbers with 442 area codes have been given to phone companies. Manning said, though, that only a fraction of those 160,000 numbers have been assigned.

The county’s Registrar of Voters database shows that only 57 of North County’s approximately 400,000 registered voters have been assigned numbers beginning with 442. But there could be significantly more, because officials said many voters neglect to change their phone number when they change their address.

Sanchez, the hospital spokesman, said Palomar Medical Center was assigned 442 numbers because hospital officials wanted all of their numbers to begin with the same three-digit exchange of 281, an impossibility in 760.

“It’s been an adjustment,” Sanchez said. “I don’t know anybody else who has it. But we haven’t gotten any complaints.”

Maurice Miller, who was assigned a 442 number last year, said he has encountered some confusion.

“They think it’s weird when I tell people my number, but I don’t think it’s been a big problem,” he said. “They typically say, ‘Where’s that from?’ and then I explain it.”

Brocklin Tawyea, who was assigned a 442 number last month, said he has been affected by a glitch. His ex-girlfriend has a land line that allows her to make local calls for free, but she is unable to call Tawyea because his number begins with 442.

North County has changed area codes several times before.

The region switched from the 213 area code to the 714 code in 1951, when the Los Angeles area began running out of numbers. And when 714 began running out of numbers, North County and the rest of San Diego were switched to 619.

In 1997, North County was split from the rest of San Diego and given the 760 area code.